Score Predictions: Burnley vs SAFC
Today at 01:00 AM
What's your call for the Friday night fixture?
Last time out…
The lads exited the FA cup in the 3rd round against Stoke in our last game, which many feel is a blessing for sure.
A couple of errors were punished by The Potters, which meant despite a well created and very well taken goal for Milan Aleksic, we went out in extra time and lost yet another player in Aji Alese to a serious injury.
Tonight we visit Burnley with a chance to leap frog them if we win. A win at their place at a stage like this would not only be a great boost for our promotion hopes but it would arguably also send a very clear message to the present top four company we are keeping - we are part of the automatics mix, and mean business.
Can we close the gap? This is what our writers reckon is on the cards tonight…
'The Champion' Martin Wanless predicts...
Score prediction: Burnley 0 Sunderland 1
Sunderland's first goalscorer: Le Fee
Got to, haven't I?!
It's the Roy Race storyline and sometimes football just works like that.
Burnley barely concede at home - hardly score many either - but they grind results out.
I don't think this will be an end to end game, but a moment of quality could be the difference, and I'm hoping it's written in the stars that it's our new signing that provides it.
Malc Dugdale predicts...
Score prediction: Burnley 0 Sunderland 0
Sunderland's first goalscorer: No scorer
The lads have a huge challenge this evening, and with one of the best defences facing us we will do well to get anything from the game.
Given how few they score too, however, this has 0-0 written all over it.
I'd love to be wrong, and a win would be massive, but a point is decent after we beat these at home.
Prove me a mug lads, win this with beautiful footy from our wonderful team. Happy to slip down this table and climb the important one.
Jack Howe-Gingell predicts...
Score prediction: Burnley 0 Sunderland 2
Sunderland's first goalscorer: Isidor
Back to league action and a barnstormer to get us back into it. 4th vs 2nd in a huge promotion matchup, and we have to be confident after comprehensively sweeping Burnley aside in our last meeting.
A win would send us second in the league, and joint top with Leeds at least for 24 hours, with us being the first Championship fixture of the weekend. It feels like a great time to step from recent strong results and keep pushing forwards.
Burnley have found goals hard to come by, evidenced by them being the lowest scorers in the top four. James Trafford has been their saving grace, but his ratios cannot last all seasons and we should be the ones to break it.
I suspect Burnley will try to play conservatively, and hope to coax a mistake out us which have been creeping in at the back of late. We need to remain firm and take our chances when they inevitably arrive.
There will be hype around the potential debut of Enzo Le Fée naturally after his loan signing appearing to be such a coup for this level, and a signal intent from the board. Abdul Samed may also make his league bow, after some mixed work at the weekend, and also Ahmed Abdullahi is apparently available, which offers one more excitement.
A cool performance from us should have us leaving with three points. Burnley may be sitting in second, but I have this feeling that they are there for the taking and our typically dynamic frontline will lead the way.
Will Jones predicts...
Score prediction: Burnley 1 Sunderland 2
Sunderland's first goalscorer: Isidor
This game has all the makings of a classic Championship clash, and it's one Sunderland can win. Burnley's impressive unbeaten home record and defensive solidity are commendable, but they've been overly reliant on James Trafford's heroics in goal, and their attack isn't firing consistently enough.
With Wilson Isidor in great form, I see him breaking the deadlock. His pace and physicality can cause Burnley's backline real problems, especially with the service from the likes of Patrick Roberts and Dan Neil. And let's not forget Enzo Le Fée—if he gets some minutes, his creativity could make the difference late on.
Burnley might try to frustrate us with a conservative setup, but our high press and attacking intensity should eventually break them down. If we stay composed at the back and take our chances, we'll leave Turf Moor with all three points and a big statement in the promotion race.
Matty Foster predicts...
Score prediction: Burnley 1 Sunderland 1
Sunderland's first goalscorer: Isidor
This is a big one tonight, there's no denying that.
Two of the top four clash heads, with the prize of three points to keep the automatic promotion places firmly in sight.
Burnley on paper have been nigh on impregnable all season. They can boast an unblemished home record, best defensive record, and suffering only two defeats all season.
However, they've been pretty uninspiring for significant portions of the season, and I think they would be first to admit that.
But you don't build a current thirteen-game unbeaten run without having the required goods to grind out the results.
A win here would throw us back into the top two until at least 3pm tomorrow.
And whilst I can realistically envisage us doing the double over The Clarets, I sense a very cagey game with both sides giving very little away.
Bomber Davies predicts...
Score prediction: Burnley 1 Sunderland 1
Sunderland's first goalscorer: Jobe
After what feels like an eternity thanks to the irrelevance to us (this year at least) of the FA cup 3rd round, we dive straight back in with a HUGE game to kick the weekend off!
Burnley, like us, are undefeated at home, although their dozen games has seen six wins and six draws.
Perhaps even more incredible is the fact that in those 12 games, they have only conceded 4 goals! With that I find it really hard to believe that we'll get any more than one.
Our best performances have been reserved for the biggest games this season and I expect this to be no different!
I've got everything crossed in the hope of seeing a little of our new boy Le Fèe, and think it'll be a great game and an away day point for the lads!
Gary Winter predicts...
Score prediction: Burnley 1 Sunderland 1
Sunderland's first goalscorer: Isidor
We will be up for this game, no doubt about it, but this Burnley side looks completely different to the lacklustre side we saw off at the Stadium of Light in August. Unbeaten all season at home, they've not lost a match since early Nov and are unbeaten in fourteen in all competitions. No team has managed to score more than one goal against the Clarets in the league this season - only Wolves managed it in the EFL Cup. That makes for some tough reading.
I'm not going to bet on any of these things changing other than the unbeaten run stretches to fifteen for them, as I'm punting on a 1-1 and Wilson to add another spectacular goal to his portfolio of strikes.
Brett Lyons-Davis predicts...
Score prediction: Burnley 1 Sunderland 2
Sunderland's first goalscorer: Isidor
Now the cup dream is over for another year all focus is now on promotion. A few of the lads would have appreciated the rest last weekend after the busy Christmas period and we will hopefully come flying out the blocks.
They last lost on the 3rd November so are a tough team to beat. However I can see our new man Enzo Le Fee popping up with the winner after coming off the bench for a dream debut after his fellow Frenchman big Wilson opens the score - Viva La Promotion
Last game predictions
Most of the lads went for a win in the cup, and there was much debate about whether the lads calling a draw should have got something for it going to extra time at that tally.
I ignored all those silly plea's and gave three points only to Will, with one for Jack calling the goal for Aleksic.
It was great to see Milan get his goal, and with new signings like Enzo in the door we can only hope for more of the same from our developing and epic midfield.
Latest standings
Will leaps into top spot being the only one to call a 2-1 loss.
Jack moves up slightly thanks to the combo between Milan and Adil getting a well worked goal which deserved a better result.
How the points are awarded
Just a quick reminder of how we allocate points to our match-by-match predictions:
- Correct score = Three points
- Correct outcome (but not correct score) = One point
- Correct first Sunderland goalscorer = One point (no goalscorer is a valid call)
- Possible deductions for being lazy and not submitting on time = yellow card warning, then a two point deduction.
